NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Hurricane Sandy is raking over the central Bahamas with violent winds and torrential rains, and is blamed for at least 21 deaths in the Caribbean, eleven of them in Cuba.
The Category 2 storm is centered about 100 miles east of the Bahamas capital of Nassau. Its maximum sustained winds of 100 mph are down slightly from earlier Thursday.
Sandy is expected to churn through the central and northwest Bahamas through early Friday. It also might cause tropical storm conditions along the southeastern Florida coast, the Upper Keys and Florida Bay by Friday morning.
The hurricane is predicted to weaken over the next 48 hours, but remain a hurricane for a couple days.
Sandy is expected to track along the U.S. coastline. Forecasters say as it meets up along the U.S. East Coast with a storm coming from the West and a blast of arctic air it's expected to create a super storm. Experts say that will generate gale-force winds, flooding, heavy rain and maybe snow in some areas starting Sunday and stretching past Wednesday.
